Why would I join the army if I can’t drive a Gundam!

Chapter 13 Political Show
"Yo! Crinny! Look at that!"

As soon as the car drove into the parking lot of the garrison base, Andre poked Macharius on the shoulder.

"what?"

Macharius turned his head and saw a black car parked there with the Earth Federation flag and the Space Army flag hanging on the front of the car. In addition to the license plate number 001, there was also a large First Fleet emblem printed on the door.

“Is that Santa’s car?”

"should be!"

"I rely on!"

"Is everyone here?"

Santa Claus is just a nickname, referring to the commander-in-chief of the Federation Space Forces, Lieutenant General Jonah Ibrahim Rebil. This old man, who is considered a role model for Federation soldiers, has a thick white beard, so he was given this nickname. The number one man in the Federation Army is usually either at the Federation Army Headquarters on Earth or at the Space Army Headquarters on Luna II. If there is nothing important, he will definitely not come to a place like the Principality of Zeon. As for why he is so sure it is him, among all the senior officers of the Federation Army, only his car is as shabby as this, while the cars of other generals are very good.

"With such a prominent figure here, this exercise is likely just a political show for both sides!"

"Are you so sure?"

Macharius looked at Andrei, who was thinking like a primary school student reasoning about a criminal case, and then answered with certainty.

"Absolutely. General Rebil is here, so the Zeon side will definitely come as well. Although it's unlikely to be Dekin, it should be Gihren. In any case, it can't be Dozle. That guy is the principal, he should be there!"

Gihren Zabi is the eldest son of Dejin Zabi. He currently serves as the head of the Principality of Zeon and is a born among the born. Dozle Zabi is the third son of the Zabi family. He currently serves as the commander of the Zeon Defense Force and is also the president of the Zeon Higher Military Academy. He was also in charge of the military exercises with the Federation in previous years.

"So, what do you think these masters are doing here?"

"You're definitely not here to watch our exercises!"

Although it was not mentioned much in the original work, Macharius estimated that the two sides should be here to negotiate some arms or economic matters. After all, the calm on the surface does not mean anything, and the undercurrent surging underneath is the key. If nothing unexpected happens, this exercise will be the last one for both sides. After all, no matter what conditions Zeon puts forward, Rebil is unlikely to give in. Although Santa Claus looks amiable, he is actually a brave and decisive general. He is very clear about Zeon's problems, so any conditions that will make Zeon bigger are not within his consideration.

"Does our father still expect the Federation to back down?"

In the official residence of the head of Zeon on the side3 satellite Zim, the head of the Principality of Zeon, Gilen Zabi, who was wearing a luxurious military uniform and had a neat short hair, held a light glass of wine and spoke casually.

"Yes, he plans to have a good talk with the top federal military officers led by Rebil. After all, our situation is very bad now!" A woman wearing a neat riding outfit and with fiery red hair protruding high on both sides like two sharp horns answered with a sneer.

"Naive old man, does he think that as long as he kowtows, the Earth Federation will lift its blockade on us?"

Kilian placed the wine glass in his hand heavily on the table, opened his hands from his chest with great force, waved them to both sides, then clenched his left fist upwards, as if he was grabbing something tightly in his hands and spoke.

"How foolish! Those damned Earthlings will never regress. The only way to communicate with them is through force. Only by completely destroying the Earth Federation can we have a glorious future and allow our Zabi family to become the embodiment of the world and the ruler of all mankind. Kycilia, do you understand?"

"Yes, brother, I understand!"

The woman was none other than the eldest daughter of the Zabi family, Kycilia Zabi. Like her elder brother Gihren, both were ambitious people who would do anything to achieve their goals. When Gihren was purging the opposition, Kycilia, as his deputy, also made great efforts. If the Zabi family also had moderates and radicals, then Prince Dekin was a moderate, and Gihren and Kycilia were radicals who thought the radicals were too conservative. Of course, the two of them also had the clearest cognition. Unlike Prince Dekin who still had illusions about negotiations, the brother and sister were very clear that Zeon must go to war with the Federation, so over the years, Zeon's military preparations were mostly led by the two of them.

However, it was also because of this that Zeon suffered decades of blockade and sanctions, its economy was severely damaged, its agriculture could not be self-sufficient, and its population dropped from 2 billion to 150 million. Zeon has therefore embarked on a vicious circle. The more sanctions it faces, the more it has to develop its armaments, and the more it develops its armaments, the more sanctions it has to impose. Up to now, Zeon's finances can even be said to be on the verge of collapse. Even ensuring the supply of food and electricity for residents has become a problem. The most ridiculous thing is that in order to whitewash Zeon's peaceful scene, many satellite cities have no population, but Gihren still ordered the power department to electrify these areas to create a scene of brilliant lights.

The most terrifying thing is that the heavy taxes imposed by Zeon on the country in order to develop its military power have made the people overwhelmed. In order to squeeze out every bit of war potential, it even created the air tax and gravity tax to evade taxes and collect wealth from the people. Those residents who cannot pay the taxes will be thrown into the decompression chamber and slowly wait for death.

Knowing that domestic problems could no longer be ignored, Prince Dekin used this military exercise to hope to reach some consensus with the Federation on sanctions and blockades to ease the principality's already collapsing financial pressure. In fact, the negotiations and this exercise are even inextricably linked. Whichever party wins the exercise will have more initiative during the negotiations.

Macharius could barely guess some of these, but they were just guesses. He was just a sixteen-year-old military academy student and did not have that much energy to change the world. Reaching the current height was already the limit for him.

"Who is Macarius Crinius?"

Not long after the cadets checked into the federal army base, there was a knock on their dormitory door, and then a team of armed military police wearing red berets walked in, led by an officer.

"I am, what's the matter?"

Pushing aside the other seven people who were still blocking his way, though they didn't understand why, Macharius walked out of the crowd and looked at the other party.

"Someone wants to see you, please come with us!"

Although the officer had a blank expression on his face, he still tried to speak in a polite tone. After he finished speaking, he seemed to be worried about scaring the other party, so he added another sentence.

"It's someone you know!"

(End of this chapter)